The Last Train Comes At Midnight
by Dorku No Renkinjutsushi
Summary: Will you be ready when the last train comes? SPOILERS FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS, DAMMIT.


**Title:** The Last Train Comes At Midnight  
**Author:** **creepycrawly**  
**Fandom/Pairing:** Harry Potter. JamesLily, Sirius, Remus  
**Warnings:** Um. DH spoilers, anyone? And slash.  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Summary:** Will you be ready when the last train comes? SPOILERS FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS, DAMMIT.

* * *

Remus sat up slowly, feeling very confused. The last time he had been aware, he had been running, dodging among the uprooted trees of the Forbidden Forest, wand in hand and heart in throat. He had been fighting, the blood pounding in his veins and adrenaline sharpening the world into icy cold blades of glass around him.

And then that curse had flown out of nowhere, and the glass had shattered.

He stood up carefully, trying to decide where he was. The harder he looked, the more his environment sharpened, until he realized he was standing at King's Cross Station. There were children all around him, familiar looking children. Children with red hair and black hair and brown hair and blond hair and one child with bluish-green hair were running all over, laughing and cheering.

With a shock of recognition, he saw the cluster of kids standing in one corner, waiting to get on the train.

Beautiful Lily leant against the wall, some Muggle book in hand, hair held back by a green ribbon that brought out her eyes. James had an arm around her slender waist, and her head rested lightly on his strong shoulder. One slender leg was propped back against the wall, a mimic of James's casual stance.

Sirius stood opposite them, his arm around Josiah Smith, chatting amiably in that rock-star calm way of his while Peter watched them all nervously. Josiah had no complaints about being used as an arm prop, just smiled dopily and kept an arm possessively around Sirius's narrow hips as various girls shot them appraising (if disappointed) looks.

And Remus himself sat against the wall, book in lap, bandage across one eye.

"It was three days after the full moon, d'you remember, Moony?" a casual, teasing voice remarked, as full of all that familiar youthful vigour as it had been when they were younger.

"Of course he remembers, Prongs," another painfully familiar voice answered sardonically. "I mean, he did get such a _dashing_ scar out of it an all…"

A gentle laugh trickled out, the same gentle laugh that had haunted Remus's dreams for sixteen years. "Leave him alone, guys," Lily Potter remarked, stepping out of the shadows towards where Remus stood.

It wasn't seventeen-year-old Lily that emerged from the shadows, but a slightly older woman, the woman who had sacrificed herself for her son. Her smile was just as warm, though, and her hands felt soft as she reached forward and squeezed Remus's. "Hey, Remus."

"Am…am I dead?" he stammered, watching his two best friends emerging from the shadows, stepping in front of their seventeen-year-old selves, smiling at him, looking the same as they had the last time he had seen him.

"Would it be so awful if you were?" Sirius asked bluntly.

"I just…I have a son now, Pads, and a wife…and Harry…" Remus could barely speak for his shock.

"Harry has someone else now," James murmured, smiling up at Remus. "You and Pads did well with him, but…he's got someone else to take care of him now, Moony."

"And Nymphadora's already here," Lily whispered. "She took the last train already."

"We've been waiting for you."

"But…why?" Remus managed weakly.

"We're the Marauders, mate," Sirius said seriously. "All for one and one for all."

James smiled warmly as the whistle on the train blew loudly. "We told you when you were thirteen that we'd never leave you alone. And we're sticking to that."

"It wouldn't be the same without you, Remus," Lily said softly, one hand resting on his arm. "Come on. We've been waiting for you."

Taking a deep breath, Remus took Sirius's extended hand and walked up the steps of the Hogwarts Express, Lily and James right behind them. Sirius smiled and led their group into the familiar compartment, the one they had always used, the one that Remus had ridden to Hogwarts for both the first and last time in. Their seventeen-year-old selves were already there, chattering about stupid, pointless things, things that seemed so inane and calm next to the darkness that had filled the rest of their lives.

Back then, they had thought that their whole lives were just stretching out before them.

They sat down, and Sirius slid a warm arm around behind Remus, holding him as a friend, a confidante, and one who understood. Across the way, James and Lily watched them, smiling comfortingly.

"Welcome home, Moony."


End file.
